Fazua Ride 60. Yay or Nay? Reliability Improved?

[johndeu]

New to the forums here. Recent owner of a Transition Relay Carbon GX bike. I bought it back in May '24 and it's been fantastic all summer. Just this last week, after 240 miles on the motor, I started hearing some odd noises on a local loop. Nothing too technical. It started as a mechanical grinding sound that I just dismissed at first on the climb, but then it got louder and I knew something was not normal. Anytime I let off on power to the pedals, it would also make a very strange clutch release whooshing sound. After a few more miles, it developed a "ticking sound". Then it suddenly stopped and sounded normal and quiet again.
I immediately contacted Transition in Bellingham and they were amazing. They just "happened to have a motor" available on the shelf and put it aside for me. Great customer service! I brought it up to the Outpost and had it swapped out the next day. Sounds very quiet now.

I need to test it out some more to make sure it's working but happy that they are swapping them out under warranty so easily if there is a known issue with this generation of motors. I still need to check in the Toolbox to see what hardware version of the motor this is.

 

[Ou812]

New to the forums here. Recent owner of a Transition Relay Carbon GX bike. I bought it back in May '24 and it's been fantastic all summer. Just this last week, after 240 miles on the motor, I started hearing some odd noises on a local loop. Nothing too technical. It started as a mechanical grinding sound that I just dismissed at first on the climb, but then it got louder and I knew something was not normal. Anytime I let off on power to the pedals, it would also make a very strange clutch release whooshing sound. After a few more miles, it developed a "ticking sound". Then it suddenly stopped and sounded normal and quiet again.
I immediately contacted Transition in Bellingham and they were amazing. They just "happened to have a motor" available on the shelf and put it aside for me. Great customer service! I brought it up to the Outpost and had it swapped out the next day. Sounds very quiet now.

I need to test it out some more to make sure it's working but happy that they are swapping them out under warranty so easily if there is a known issue with this generation of motors. I still need to check in the Toolbox to see what hardware version of the motor this is.

You got lucky with them having a motor. My local SC dealer has 2 of his demo Heckler SLs waiting on motors, he was told 10 weeks minimum to get warranty replacements!

 

[johndeu]

You got lucky with them having a motor. My local SC dealer has 2 of his demo Heckler SLs waiting on motors, he was told 10 weeks minimum to get warranty replacements!

I'm guessing that Transition might have a stock of them up in Bellingham for this reason as well. They probably get more units than a LBS would get prioritized to have. Or I timed it really well somehow.

Now I'm concerned about post warranty purchase of a new drive unit if it fails again. I'm hoping that the price will come down in a few years and I can easily pickup a backup motor through Fazua or via Transition.

 

[Ou812]

I'm guessing that Transition might have a stock of them up in Bellingham for this reason as well. They probably get more units than a LBS would get prioritized to have. Or I timed it really well somehow.

Now I'm concerned about post warranty purchase of a new drive unit if it fails again. I'm hoping that the price will come down in a few years and I can easily pickup a backup motor through Fazua or via Transition.

It’s UK/EU wide, apparently there’s a shortage of motors. I’m guessing they’ve run out of stock with all the warranty replacements and can’t get the rebuilt motors out fast enough.

 

[jonas]

Just FYI my experience with the Fazua ride 60 reliability in 2024:

I've bought the Focus Jam² SL 10 months ago and rode 2400km in total.
I am on the third motor which is just now failing after 990km.

To be fair the bike hasn't seen much tarmac and instead lots of sometimes rough enduro tracks, steep climbs in boost(rocket) mode as well as quite a lot of rain and mud. But nothing the bike isn't made for.

I still think the Fazua ride 60 package on a 150/160 bike is the best thing and I really loved it, when it worked. But by now I am convinced the system is not reliable enough for advanced users. Maybe I just had bad luck or some kind of frame intolerance, but for me it's no longer worth the hassle to spend the time and money on quarterly motor replacements.
(Fazua warranty did not cover all labor costs in Germany)

I've decided to go back to Shimano and ordered an EP8 powered EMTB.

 

[Tmae]

Sounds really bad
What serial number / production date did your latest motor have?
Any why you had to pay when the motor was replaced? I had to pay nothing.
I have 2100km on my second motor now, hoping it holds up strong.

 

[jonas]

All three motors were "Motor F4, Hardware Version 2, Firmware 2.0" and produced in 2023.

#1 produced Q1 2023 had a faulty freehub. (Motor did spin but not engage. Apparently a known production issue caused by bad quality glue)
#2 produced Q4 2023 developed play in the bottom bracket axle. (I suspect it lead to water getting in and had the motor turn off and on like a loose connection)
#3 produced Q3 2023 gets loud and slower under load, like something is jamming the gears

None of the motors showed any error messages.

In Germany there is a difference between warranty by the retailer that has to cover all costs by law and the voluntary manufacturer warranty. To save time i opted for the Fazua warranty in a local bike shop instead of sending the bike back to the dealer. It was two different local bike shops and in both instances Fazua did not cover the cost of installation.

 

[Pock]

I'm on a Heckler SL and I worry each time I ride it.

 

[JP-NZ]

It’s incredible to read that Fazua still can’t produce a decent system and are still beta testing

 

[Suns_PSD]

Mine has been amazing now for about 1.5 years. It's really smooth and quiet.

I rarely expose it to water however.

 

[lanfeust9]

Santa Cruz Heckler SL owner for a year now and maybe 1500km -> in short I am very disappointed by Fazua Ride 60.

The rest of the bike is great which does not help when buying an eBike (...).

The head computer had to be replaced after a month, which was the least of my issues.

Since then I had to bring the bike multiple times to the bike shop as the power delivery is not consistent, from time to time the bike can become very inconsistent and deliver what feels like 20%-50% of the regular power before to go back to regular power for a few seconds before to go back to lower power etc etc. The bike can also deliver way too much power from time to time even when the pedal input is minimal (this is more rare).

The worst was during a bike trip where the bike decided to consistently deliver just 20% of the power anymore.

The shop reports that there is no error of any kind and that they cannot contact Fazua as a result, what has been done so far that has worked but never for ever is to recalibrate the speed sensor.

In summary, I am extremely disappointed by the reliability and lack of investigation ability in Ride 60, if the motor/battery records no error message how can Fazua fix anything, they can't and they haven't fixed my bike. I am left with trying to investigate this myself and see if I can see any message in the app during the time the power delivery is inconsistent.

 

[sethimus]

(Fazua warranty did not cover all labor costs in Germany)

that's major BS. gewährleistungsrecht says otherwise. you should tell them you want wandlung and they need to reverse the contract as they already tried to fix the problem 3x and you still have a faulty product. also they can't charge you for fixing a faulty product. know your rights!

 

[MachoRandy]

I have a Transition Relay, no complaints about the Fazua motor, met a guy on the trails that had a Focus Jam with fazua 60 with nearly 3000km on it and he had no issues either. I feel from talking to people that they are way more reliable than the specialized brose as everyone seems to have issues with them.

Only thing I dont like about any of these motors is the fact that there is no standard mount for the frame, it basically means that when the motor is outdated the whole frame will be expired too, which environmentally is a disgrace.

The bicycle industry is supposed to be enviroinmentally friendly, its totally not! Tons of obsolete carbon frames will be heading for landfill.
The industry need to get together and sort it out, or maybe dji will make some motor kits that will fit any ebike.

 

[markinman75]

This thread has been super helpful so thanks to those who have added thier experiences with this motor. Im an MTB fella and have had great success with my trek exe and the tq motor which has operated flawlessly.
All of my analog MTB's have been Santa Cruz for the past 10 years so when i wanted to get a gravel ebike i blindly purchased a Skitch since my encounters with the company and thier products have all been flawless.
I got the bike 3 weeks ago and right at about 150 miles, the ride 60 motor started to hum and on the next ride it full on blew up into a rock polisher.
I've not had to deal with such a catastrophic failure on a new or used bike and as im sure some of you have expereinced, its rather frustrating all the way around. I called the shop I bought it from which is not local and they were anxious to help but of course had to reccomend a local shop. I dropped it off to learn Fazua or Santa Cruz does not pay for service on warranty work. Ok well that would be fine but I have gotten no estimate on the timeline to repair it either.
Im in the beginning stages of this debacle so too soon to drop in to punt formation but I wanted to throw this out for convo as some of you have a tip or two that can help.
What I will say is that the Skitch was exactly what I hoped it would be until it wasn't and hopefully a new motor will get my mind right on the matter. Thanks for reading

 

[markinman75]

All three motors were "Motor F4, Hardware Version 2, Firmware 2.0" and produced in 2023.

#1 produced Q1 2023 had a faulty freehub. (Motor did spin but not engage. Apparently a known production issue caused by bad quality glue)
#2 produced Q4 2023 developed play in the bottom bracket axle. (I suspect it lead to water getting in and had the motor turn off and on like a loose connection)
#3 produced Q3 2023 gets loud and slower under load, like something is jamming the gears

None of the motors showed any error messages.

In Germany there is a difference between warranty by the retailer that has to cover all costs by law and the voluntary manufacturer warranty. To save time i opted for the Fazua warranty in a local bike shop instead of sending the bike back to the dealer. It was two different local bike shops and in both instances Fazua did not cover the cost of installation.

Thanks for mentioning about the Fazua not covering labor on the swap, i just learned that myself when I dropped mine off this week

 

[cykelk]

Thanks for mentioning about the Fazua not covering labor on the swap, i just learned that myself when I dropped mine off this week

This doesn't sound right to me, at least not in the US / under QBP distribution. My mechanic got a labor credit when I needed my swap. That was over a year ago now, but still...I'd file a ticket with Fazua directly and push on it.

 

[Natch]

This doesn't sound right to me, at least not in the US / under QBP distribution. My mechanic got a labor credit when I needed my swap. That was over a year ago now, but still...I'd file a ticket with Fazua directly and push on it.

I don’t know if my LBS got reimbursed or not but they took care of my motor swap at no additional cost to me.

 

[Snoggin]

I just had a ring control and led swap and i had to pay my LBS to install it … Was only $100 so I dint contact Santa Cruz or make a big deal out of it with FAZUA . But labor SHOULD be covered too. If it was more id press

 

[Tmae]

Sounds strange to me.
Usually if it‘s a Certified fazua partner , they have a systen set up to claim the cost to fazua. If your lbs is no fazua partner i get it

 

[sethimus]

Sounds strange to me.
Usually if it‘s a Certified fazua partner , they have a systen set up to claim the cost to fazua. If your lbs is no fazua partner i get it

lol. in switzerland, you need to deal with FIT. if you know you know...